Sony PlayStation 3 Temporarily Banned from Europe

A court in Hague, the Netherlands, last week ordered to seize shipments of the PlayStation 3 game console from Sony Corp. after the latter lost a preliminary injunction in a legal dispute with LG Electronics. The ban is temporary and will last ten days, but after that LG may appeal and prolong it.

LG Electronics and Sony have a number of ongoing legal actions against each other. LG accuses Sony of infringing its patens regarding Blu-ray disc playback on Sony PS3, whereas Sony is attempting to stop sales of LG’s cell phones in the U.S. As a part of the ongoing battle, European customs officers have been ordered to seize shipments of PlayStation 3 consoles after LG won a preliminary injunction against Sony, reports the Guardian.

Tens of thousands of PlayStation 3 consoles were seized by customs officers last week in the Netherlands for ten days. Sony has the right to appeal the decision. LG has the right to apply to the same patents office to get the ten-day import ban extended. Besides, the company could apply for a court order to get the consoles destroyed, but the court would hardly make such a ruling.

If Sony is found guilty of infringing LG’s patents, it could be forced to compensate the damages to Sony, which will mean spending of hundreds of millions of dollars. It is unclear what happens if LG is found guilty of infringing Sony’s patents.

“We are currently looking into this matter, and cannot make any comments at this point in time,” a Sony spokesman reportedly said. LG declined to comment, although sources close to the company confirmed the current legal position.